Youth Development in South Africa: Harnessing the Demographic Dividend

South Africa is in the last stage of the first demographic transition (FDT) – yet already depicts aspects of the second transition. The last stage of the FDT is characterized by lower levels of fertility closer to or at the replacement level of the average of 2.1 children per woman, and improvements in mortality displayed by declining infant and childhood mortality leading to increasing life expectancy at birth. The second demographic transition (SDT) is driven by lifestyle changes that are determinants of demographic patterns. Such lifestyle changes are declining marriage rates, increasing attention on human development, and thus changing family formation patterns. South Africa’s youth are at the centre of this transition. The population census of 2011 shows an age structure of South Africa that is characterized by a larger proportion of 20-35-year-olds. This resulted from a long period of declining fertility and to some extent improvements in mortality at all ages. This age structure, with adequate investments - is expected to yield a period of economic growth resulting from a reduced dependency ratio. However, improved health care, investments in human development, and higher employment opportunities are required to harness the benefit. This chapter aims to explore the national and provincial preparedness of South African youth to contribute to economic growth of the country. In particular, the chapter will focus on demographic factors such as sex ratio; youth mortality and morbidity; and youth fertility levels as these factors are highly correlated with human development.

Complex inequalities have shaped the trajectory of the HIV epidemic in South Africa. These include factors related to gender disempowerment, poverty, family disruption and violence – all of which have intensified the risk of HIV infection among the majority of South Africans, contributing to one of the most severe country-level HIV epidemics globally. Neo-liberal economic policies adopted in the post-apartheid period failed to address poverty and burgeoning urban migration – both of which were key factors exacerbating vulnerability to HIV. While there was, ostensibly, a strong commitment to addressing the HIV epidemic by the post-apartheid government, HIV prevalence among pregnant women quadrupled from 7.6% in 1994 to 30.2% in 2005. Contributing to this rise, was a series of missteps by the national Department of Health in the late 1990s, which constrained HIV prevention efforts and stifled HIV treatment. The mid-2000s saw a reprioritisation of the response to the epidemic, with international guidelines supported by biomedical and social research underpinning a rights- and evidence-based response. Multisectoral HIV prevention activities were complemented by high levels of investment in implementing prevention of mother to child HIV transmission and expanding access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) for HIV through the public sector. While these efforts contributed to stabilising the epidemic, stark inequalities in vulnerability and susceptibility to HIV infection continued – in particular, among youth. In this chapter, we draw on a review of the research literature to describe concerns and explore opportunities for a response.

A decade ago, the AIDS pandemic was driven by determinants such as poverty, deprivation, migrancy, patriarchy and gender-based violence. Today, however, the socio-economic and structural drivers of HIV infections have assumed or added other dimensions, including social and electronic media and reality television. These new dimensions saw further expression with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020 onwards. To consign both HIV and the COVID-19 pandemics to history’s museum of pandemics, strategists must employ greater infiltration and mastery of social and electronic media and reality TV. In the case of HIV, these created social clouds or bubbles where unprotected sex, transactional sex and multiple concurrent sexual partnerships are manufactured and proliferated globally. The same was the case with the COVID-19 pandemic, in which case these social clouds or bubbles created an alternative narrative about the source of the pandemic, who and how people get infected, and both the requisite remedies and preventions in this regard. With reality television gaining popularity on low-cost paid channels and free-to-air television; with smartphone penetration widening and costs of access to data falling, a social cloud has been created, enabling the cultural majority (those who control the media and capital) to set trends for everyone, including those with less means. These trends in turn become a standard many aspire to live by. The ontological density of the poor and lower middle-class women is lost through the universalisation of social and cultural trends set by middle elites who control the production and reproduction of knowledge and shape international and national imagination. It is these discourses, and their shaping of imagination as a consequence, that this chapter deals with. It looks at both the implications and consequences which, in the case of pandemics such as these, can be dire.

Transitioning from childhood to adulthood for young people is a process that neither happens by accident nor does it happen on its own. It is a process that requires tools to manage it (Maja, 2022) and processes to ensure its success (Appadurai, 2004). In this chapter, I shall demonstrate that inborn traits (Appadurai, 2004) are an insufficient predictor of future success for young people. I will demonstrate that tools and processes, spearheaded by parents, are more powerful predictors of young people’s future success, even though both tools and processes are not equally distributed (Bok, 2010) amongst our young. Parental guidance and involvement is central in both activating these tools and processes, and managing them. I shall be using young people’s artefacts and their narratives of own aspirations – both virtual and physical – to elucidate my proposition further.

There is neither doubt nor debate that career decision-making is essential and has long-term effects on the lives of individuals, families and communities. Despite the utmost significance of career decision-making, it is well acknowledged in the literature that it remains difficult for young people in many countries worldwide to make informed and meaningful career decisions. Concerning this difficulty, this chapter presents findings from a small-scale doctoral research project investigating what influences students’ career decision-making at one public technical and vocational education and training (TVET) college in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The doctoral study on which this paper reports was framed within an interpretive framework and used focus groups and individual interviews to generate data. Following the original research project, we frame this chapter within the sociological perspective, thereby focusing on the notions of careership (Hodkinson & Sparkes, 1997) and navigational capacity (Appadurai, 2004). Also, the sociological perspective reveals the tension and relation between structure and agency. Several factors influence young people’s career decision-making, for example, socio-economic status and capacity to aspire, life turning points, and horizons of action and possibility. The findings show that the participants operate from a position of disadvantage and lack; hence, career decision-making is more of a mission than a natural step in education and training. The chapter concludes that educational institutions should expand the horizon for action and improve the navigational maps of young people as they move through education and career paths.

South Africa’s youth bulge provides both a potential asset and challenge for economic growth. The potential demographic dividend that this youth bulge represents can only manifest if youth are economically active. With youth unemployment above 51% and 7.6 million youth not in employment, education, or training − large numbers of youth are at-risk for long-term social and economic exclusion. This will only perpetuate structural inequality and poverty. In the context of extended lacklustre economic growth, the capacity of the formal economy to create large-scale employment is limited without active interventions to facilitate successful transition and entry into the labour market. This chapter explores the nature of youth transitions in South Africa. It examines the range of ‘failures’ that hamper successful transitions and presents a framework for conceptualising the role of labour market interventions in overcoming these. It then locates the Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator (Harambee) within the ecosystem of labour market interventions, describing its approach, evolution and the lessons that have emerged for how to support successful youth transitions.

Africa seeks to be a competitive global player through its comprehensive development agenda committed to by all countries on the continent for the ‘Africa we want’ in terms of the African Union Agenda 2063 as well as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Quality education that is also inclusive is therefore a vital and necessary tool to drive this development agenda. One of the greatest assets of the African continent is its teeming youth population whose education is the catalyst for Africa’s development. Yet, access and the quality of education in many countries on the continent remain very low when compared to other parts of the world. There have been significant strides made in ensuring inclusive and quality education, however, nearly one in three children does not complete primary education for a variety of reasons including costs of learning, accessibility and inclusivity that underscores the quality of received education. In the main, two main issues have been consistent in recreating the educational crisis on the continent; access and quality of education resulting in a vicious cycle of high youth unemployment rate. The high rate of unemployment threatens Africa’s capability to achieve its developmental objectives. South Africa is one of the countries with the right to education, yet the country has huge unemployment rate. Thus, with South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Nigeria struggling with endemic developmental challenges, meeting the targets of creating the ‘Africa we want’ and fostering a sustainable development agenda hang in the balance. There is an urgent need to address quality education as a central objective to realise a sustainable development agenda for the continent.

A plethora of youth development programmes exist across South Africa that can be characterised as social crime prevention or building youth resilience. However, many of these programmes can be seen as one dimensional, focussing largely on skills development and preparing youth for the labour market. In addition, a large number of these programmes are short-term interventions, with the long-term impact not always measured. A number of scholars over the last two decades have emphasised the importance of sustainability and envisioning a continuum of development, particularly for youth who have become disengaged from social institutions. Consequently, there is an urgent need to examine the different approaches to youth development and their value, and more importantly, to provide a platform for youth voices to be heard on their perceptions of what they need to enhance their growth and development, particularly in the context of the growing number of youth who are not in employment, education or training (NEET). An approach that is gaining currency in South Africa with NEET youth is that of a holistic approach. The purpose of this chapter is to explore a holistic approach to personal transformation in the youth sector as implemented by the Chrysalis Academy (CA) over the past 18 years. Its approach embraces the development of the whole person and encourages education in its broadest sense, including the arts, technical and vocational training, emotional intelligence, psychosocial support and spiritual development.

This chapter maps out and provides a rapid assessment of, the successes and shortcomings of key national interventions on youth employment in South Africa. It focuses on programmes intended for young people aged 15–34 years of age, considering the specific needs of 15–24 year olds as compared 25–34 year olds and the particular needs of young women, youth with different educational qualifications, youth from the rural areas, youth with disabilities as well as youth from varied socio-economic backgrounds and social issues. The conceptual framework underpinning this chapter informs the way in which the data has been categorised and analysed. The framework is underpinned by a core assumption, that, while unemployment is a national challenge in South Africa, there are particular challenges that specifically affect youth. This requires a youth employment strategy that addresses the needs of different cohorts of young people and specifically addresses the myriad of ways in which young people transition into the labour market. The chapter further proposes that we need to understand that enabling successful Labour Market Transitions necessitate a strategy that can overcome ‘failures’ with respect to both supply and demand as well as ‘failures’ of alignment between supply and demand.